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Left unstated is that the Concorde was designed at a time when aviation gas EDIT jet fuel ENDEDIT was priced at pennies per gallon. That said, it might still b
by WillAdams 10mo ago
Left unstated is that the Concorde was designed at a time when aviation gas EDIT jet fuel ENDEDIT was priced at pennies per gallon.
That said, it might still be flying if its recertification flight hadn't happened on 9/11.
- sidewndr46 10mo agoI'm relatively certain that neither Concorde nor any passenger jets burn aviation gas. It may be physically possible, but would be extremely ill advised given the lead additive
- rounce 10mo agoI'm pretty sure they weren't referring to 100LL, but either way even back in the 90s Jet-A was around USD 0.50 per gallon, in the 60s it was nearly 1/5th of even that.
- WillAdams 10mo agoFair. Edited my comment to note that both sorts of fuels were in that price range, but didn't look up the specific fuel specification used by the Concorde.
- fragmede 10mo agoSome version of Aviation Turbine Fuel (the other ATF) is used in passenger jets, which is either Jet A or Jet A-1 for colder, non-American flights. It is a kerosene-based fuel which does not contain any lead. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_fuel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_fuel
- wat10000 10mo agoI'd guess not. It was aging, maintenance was getting ever more expensive, Airbus didn't really want to support it anymore, and it faced ever more competition from better first-class amenities on regular planes, and from the internet reducing the need for fast business travel. It was modestly profitable in its heyday once the capital costs were written off, but it didn't have a lot of headroom. Jet fuel cost about $1/gallon when Concorde retired. Five years later, it would hit $3/gallon. I have to imagine that would have ended it if nothing else had by that point.
- Schiendelman 10mo agoI don't think the Internet has reduced the need for fast business travel. I think business travel has grown along with the Internet.